Valmiera celebrates its 741st birthday

Located in northern Latvia, the city of Valmiera celebrated its 741st birthday last week. It was also the opportunity to commemorate the 120th anniversary of Janis Dalins, a Latvian race-walker born in Valmiera and famous for having won the first Latvian Olympic medal. If you want to know more about Latvia and the Olympics, you can read this article published in our blog.

The Programme

Every year, on the occasion of its birthday, the city of Valmiera organizes a sort of festival to celebrate its traditions and history. During the whole weekend, the city hosts concerts from Latvian singers and music groups. Among them, many music bands performed traditional Latvian ethno-music and dances. While some people watched the concerts, others in the audience preferred to join the stage and perform traditional dances as well. It was incredible to see Latvians from all generations, some of them wearing traditional costumes, celebrating together their history and traditions. The celebration also featured an open-air cinema, displaying animated movies for children as well as films for grown-ups. 

The main street of the town was converted into a gigantic market, with stands presenting and selling handicraft (clothing, soaps, candles…) as well as traditional food and local beverages. Foodtrucks were offering a wide variety of food, including sausages, shashlik, sauerkraut, French fries, burgers, kebab… 

Other activities included water activities, family bike-riding sessions as well as traditional dance classes. In addition, local museums organised free exhibitions. You can find out more about the full programme here. 

How to get there?

From Riga, you can reach Valmiera by train. It is the same railway that goes to Sigulda and Cesis. The journey from Riga to Valmiera takes approximately 2 hours 20 minutes. The town itself is really pretty, with verdant parks, beautiful churches and high-class restaurants. 

This article was brought to you by Theo, currently studying Russian at Liden & Denz. All pictures dispalyed in the article were taken during the trip to Valmiera.